From Doe v. Intel Corp., decided today by Judge Paul Oetken (S.D.N.Y.):
The Complaint alleges the following facts [which at this point are of course only allegations -EV]. Plaintiff John Doe is a "Jewish Israeli citizen who proudly served with the Israel Defense Forces," and who has family members currently living in Israel. Plaintiff first moved to the United States to "establish [a] U.S. market presence" for a "Startup" he was working for at the time. Shortly thereafter, Intel acquired the company and Plaintiff "began working for Intel as an Engineering Lead." In the ensuing years, Plaintiff had a successful career at Intel and was ultimately promoted to "Vice President of Engineering."
Following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, Defendant Badr, "the Vice President of Customer Success at Intel," allegedly made a number of statements and interacted with a number of social media posts supporting Hamas's actions and "advocat[ing] for and celebrat[ing] the murder of Israelis like [Plaintiff] and the members of his family." On January 29, 2024, Badr became Plaintiff's direct manager. Plaintiff complained, but Intel "did not respond." Subsequently, Badr took actions to "mak[e] [Plaintiff's] professional life as intolerable as possible because of his Jewish and Israeli heritage," including acting "frigid and isolating" toward Plaintiff, asking Plaintiff which of his fellow employees were Israeli and making disparaging comments about them, refusing to approve Plaintiff's expense requests, interrupting Plaintiff in meetings, and interfering with Plaintiff's job responsibilities.
Plaintiff again complained and Intel conducted an investigation. Following the investigation, "Intel took no corrective action against Badr," but, on April 2, 2024, Plaintiff was "laid-off." When Plaintiff complained, "Intel then created a new job" for him, albeit "with a significant pay cut." Badr allegedly replaced Plaintiff in his old position with a new employee, "Ahmed," who "shared the same anti-Israel sentiments as Badr."
On July 3, 2024, Intel's Human Resources department informed Plaintiff "that his retention bonus was being cancelled." Plaintiff claims that this was done as "punish[ment] for protesting discrimination."
The court concluded that plaintiff, like other plaintiffs, had to sue under his own name:
